Finally Perfect by J.S Christopher (e ink epub reader txt) 📕

. My sight was blurry, I started to sniffle and tears fell down my cheeks, Derrick sat on the ledge of the window and looked at the pictures in the jewelry box, he smiled and slightly chuckled at them. “Is this you?” he said pointing to the one of my dad and me on my birthday. I nodded and saw his smile, it was nice to see him smile but was he laughing at me? Was he laughing at the fact that I’m an orphan?  Laughing that no one wanted me? Laughing at my abuse? My face turned red and anger rose through me I snatched the picture and put it back in the box. I sniffed, “I’m about to change, could you leave?” I said harshly as I wiped tears from my eyes and glared at him. He stood there looking at me, “Oh yeah sure” he cleared his throat, “Is this it?” he grabbed the suitcase and turned to leave; he looked back at me then closed the door behind him. I took off the dress and heels then threw them into the duffle bag and went to the closet, I pulled on my ripped jeans and threw a sweatshirt over my bra. I washed the makeup off my face; my eyes were red and puffy from crying. I pulled my hair into a pony tail and slipped on my brown boots. I grabbed my jewelry box and duffle bag off the cot, and while flinging the bag over my shoulder I turned and looked at the bare room; I turned off the light and closed the door. I was actually surprised how quickly I packed, maybe a part of me wanted to leave as badly as I tried to deny. The front door slammed behind me and I walked down the steps of my porch, the cold fall air whipped silently through the trees then it started to sprinkle which was so cliché.

One of the two black jeeps was gone and Derrick was sitting in the driver’s seat, his face was gleaming from the light of his phone, the engine hummed in the night. I looked back at the house, my Aunt grinned in the window.  I half heartily hoped she would run out of the house, wrap her arms around me and tell me she made a mistake, tell me she loved me and everything would be better, never let me go… but instead she closed the blinds. Derrick looked up from his phone and got out of the car quickly and rushed over to me. I stood stiff and looked at him a little panicked, he grabbed the duffle bag and box from me and put them in the car. I was still standing there when he said “Are you coming?” he motioned me over to the car and opened the door for me. I just sat there quietly while Derrick drove off into the night. It was quiet for a long time until he opened his mouth and said "I'm sorry if i came off a little cold earlier, I'm not usual like that." "Mmhmm" i said nodding a little, "Your mom’s kind of a bitch” Derrick said eyes focused on the road. “She’s not my mom, she’s my Aunt” I said staring out the window, “And what were you laughing at in my room? You think this is funny?” We both whipped out heads and looked at each other. “No, it’s not funny, she shouldn’t put her hands on you” he said in a matter if fact kind of tone. My cheeks burnt bright red, I was embarrassed that he knew the secret I tried to protect. He turned toward the road and his face bent to a frown, he gripped the steering wheel the leather sqeezed. “She’s lucky I didn’t see her, I would have stopped her” he let out a breath and relaxed his grip.  “Derrick?” I said in a small voice, He glanced over then back at the road a few times, “What?” he whined. “Why…well why is this happening” I said rubbing the sleeves of my sweatshirt together. He signed and said “My parents are pretty important people, and they’re ready to retire but they have  ‘Southern values’ or something." He shook his head, "I don’t know but  they want me to be married first before the hand the business off to me”. “Are you an only child? They can't pass it off to your siblings?" I asked. "I have an older sister but, shes busy with her family. My brother in law works for the government and they are always traveling with my nieces and nephews." he said. "Well why don’t you marry someone from Tennessee then? Why take me from my life and bring me to yours?! And what did my Aunt mean by saying my mom ‘Owed your family a huge favor’?” I said “Hey! I don’t want this either; you think I want to be in some forced marriage? This wasn’t my idea. What do you think my friends are going to say? I don’t even want a relationship period” he said looking me up and down. We both sat there in silence, the only noise was the piter patter of rain, buzzing of the air conditioning and the wind shield wipers. We pulled up to the airport and Derrick shut the car off, then looked at me, his arm resting on the steering wheel, “Look I don’t know you and I don’t know how to make this less awkward, I really don’t know what to say.” He looked down at the center consol. “I just don’t understand how they think we’re just going to do this, like I'm 16, I'm not ready to be married. We don’t have a choice?” I said looking back at him, he just shrugged his shoulders still looking down. He then looked back up and me and smiled a little, he was just so gorgeous. He said “I’m not that bad you know” I smiled a little and blurted out “Well you’re beautiful so” my eyes widened, my face grew flush then red with embrassmen. I turned away quickly. He laughed loud, “Well thank you, you're pretty cute yourself, I was not expecting that” I smiled and turned back at him, “So what now? We’re not getting married tonight are we? I’m not ready for that!” my voice was shaky. “No we’re not getting married tonight, relax” he said sitting back into the driver seat. The rain started to come down fast and hard against the the windshield. Derrick looked at his watch then back at me, “Look, I know this is weird, and I’m sorry this is all new, but I mean it didn’t seem like the greatest place to live”. I turned away from him and looked out the window. “Hey” he said gently, he grabbed my hands, and I turned back to him. “At least no one will hurt you again... i promise” he smiled slightly and I looked into his eyes and he into mine, it was like time stopped around us, my heart was beating fast, my ears burned red, my stomach was fluttering with butterflies, God I hoped he didn’t feel my hands sweating. I wanted to kiss him, I’ve never see a man so handsome in my life, but...what if he was like everyone else that drifted in and out of my life. What if he was abusive too? Was he a player back in Tennessee? Was this all an act? I pulled my hand away and looked down. I could feel him still lookiing at me. After a few quiet moments the valet knocked on my window, Derrick nodded and cleared his throat “I’ll grab the bags” he got out of the car and grabbed both his and I’s duffle bag and my suit case. He then came over to the passenger side and opened the door for me, he handed me an umbrella. We didn't walk into the terminal, instead we walked around the side and out back. Soon my confused was over when we were led to a huge private jet. We hurried to the jet, Derrick handed our bags to someone else and pushed me up the stairs. We shook the water off ourselves and I looked around in amazement. The seats and couches were made of leather and were light tan with dark maroon plush carpet. The jet was warm, and soon my slightly damp clothes were dry. In the front of the cabin was a flat screen TV playing some old black and white movie. When we walked in Mr. Baker waved at us as he went into the back cabin to make a phone call, Mrs. Baker was in a light pink silky robe with black boots on, she had martini in her left hand she patted the seat to the right of her and motioned for me to sit next to her, I looked back at Derrick who unbuttoned his gray vest and then plopped down on the couch looking at his phone. I walked over slowly and sat uncomfortably. She grabbed my hand and looked at my nails, “Oh sweetie, we have to do something about that, Suzanna? Suzanna dear we need our nails done” she smiled back at me, Suzanna then came over and started to give us Mani’s and Pedi’s, YES a full blown nail spa on an private jet **this can’t be real! ** I thought. Mrs. Baker chatted with me and told me about the Thanksgiving dinner party they would be hosting at their house tomorrow, thats when they were going to introduce Derrick and I to the community. I sat quietly and nodded as she spoke so highly of her family and especially Derrick, I looked at him and he rolled his eyes a little and smiled at me. She also spoke of her daughter Daphine, who I would be meeting tomorrow. Apperently they are not to fond of her choice in a husband but non the less accept him and love their 5 grand children. Soon me and Mrs. Baker had matching white French tip manicures and pedicures. I raised my arm to look at my watch and nails, when my sleeved rolled down, exposing my forearm marked my bruises, Derrick sat up quickly and looked at me. I rolled my sleeve back down over my arm and hand and looked away. Mrs. Baker didn’t notice, she stood up and said “Okay you two, once this little storm clears up we’ll be off for home, Good night” she moved to the back cabin with Mr. Baker. I stayed firmly in the chair and watched the black and white movie hoping Derrick would forget seeing my arm. Finally we started to take off and the lights in the cabin turned off. I moved over to the long couch were Derrick was laying and sat down at the end near his feet, still watching the movie, I shivered a little, “Are you cold?” he said looking down at me; he removed one of his ear plugs.  He had a blanket draped over him, “Come here.”